Posts Tagged ‘bloodbuzzed’

Hailing from Denver (the press release says “they live out in the desert near four corners where Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico meet“), there’s very few information on a band that, back to the press release, “don’t really want the world to know who they are, personally. Just the music. We even had a hard time tracking them down for this. The tracks and art come to us on a CDR in an envelope with no return address. We have only e-mailed with them. Never spoken. They ask (politely) for no photography during their rare live shows, usually in houses or basements”. They define themsleves as “pop music for introverts”. Which is kind of ironic, in a way, because the majority of ‘Pure American Gum‘, their first record (as far as we know), out next week on Jigsaw Records, is expansive, pure, unadultered, 90s indie-rock. Guided By Voices meeting Dinosaur Jr, Pavement on stereoids, Jesus and Mary Chain high on Coca-Cola. Pop hits.

Sometimes songs become etched in your mind for long, demanding you to sing them again & again. That’s the case with The Fireworks music since we discovered them two years ago. So imagine how delighted are we to have Mattew Rimell and their eloquent answers on our second interview of 2015. These Go to 11!

The Fireworks, indiepop pyromaniacs

Matthew Rimell, The Fireworks
Formed in 2011, when friends finally convinced Matthew Rimell to transform the songs he was singing them over the phone into a proper band, the London-Brighton quartet, composed by Rimell, Emma Hall (Pocketbooks), Isabel Albiol (Things in Herds) and Shaun Charman (The Popguns, The Wedding Present, wow!) stole our hearts and ears with their self-titled debut EP in March 2013 via (of course) Shelflife. That first release was followed by the 7” ‘Runaround‘ that same year, while 2014 saw them involved in collaborations like ‘Nobody’s Business‘ and the recording of their highly anticipated first album, ‘Switch Me On‘, finally out this month. Relentless noise-pop, instant catchy melodies and vocal harmonies infused on feedback… A flawless LP where distorsion and reverb meets melodic pop, full of hooks and punch-perfect tunes. Here we go!

1. First record that you bought (be honest)
First record bought for me by my Nan was ‘My Boy Lollipop’ by Millie Small when I was about four. First record I made my mum & dad buy me was ‘Knock on Wood’ by Amii Stewart, and first record I bought myself was The Fall’s ‘The Man Whose Head Expanded’.

New year, new exciting proposals from Shelflife, folks. This time coming from Saint Petersburg, Russia, here’s a quintetformed in 2007, but their only release to date didn’t arrive until 2009, in the form of EP ‘Happy Songs For Happy Zombies‘, out via Odd Box Records. Luckily, the combo is alive and kicking, as the debut album ‘Everything Else Matters‘, available since last week through Shelflife and ClubAC30 majestically proves.Gold shoegaze for shoegazing addicts, echoing Lush,Slowdive, Sabres of Paradise but also adding hints of dream-pop, the icy, otherworldly spirit of Cocteau Twins (get haunted by Lyubov’s voice) and glimpses of electronic. Indeed, an ultrablast.

Pinkshinyultrablast. New year, new exciting proposals from Shelflife, folks. This time coming from Saint Petersburg, Russia, here’s a quintetformed in 2007, but their only release to date didn’t arrive until 2009, in the form of EP ‘Happy Songs For Happy Zombies‘, out via Odd Box Records. Luckily, the combo is alive and kicking, as the debut album ‘Everything Else Matters‘, available since last week through Shelflife and ClubAC30 majestically proves.Gold shoegaze for shoegazing addicts, echoing Lush,Slowdive, Sabres of Paradise but also adding hints of dream-pop, the icy, otherworldly spirit of Cocteau Twins (get haunted by Lyubov’s voice) and glimpses of electronic. Indeed, an ultrablast.

What a curriculum our guest has! A Sarah Records MUST-LISTEN and criminally underrated band? Check. She was the lead singer of Aberdeen. A wonderful cult group? Check. She was a core member of Trembling Blue Stars. A charming indiepop project, featured in our “discoverer series”? Check. Charlie Big Time. And a exciting, not to miss 2014 new adventure, also praised at Bloodbuzzed, with a flamboyant self-titled album courtesy of our dear friends at Shelflife Records about to see the light of day. Check, check, check. She is part of The Luxembourg Signal. Indiepop, dreampop, shoegaze… plus an investigator & team secretary at the Ghost Finder Paranormal Society, a professional organization reporting poltergeists and supernatural phenomena across the UK. Here we go!

1. First record that you bought (be honest)

Well, I guess technically it would be a Leif Garrett best of, 8 track tape that I won at the fair. I paid 10 cents to throw a ping pong ball into a fish bowl so I got the fish and Leif Garrett. The first time I bought records with my pocket money, I bought 3 singles at the mall: ‘Queen of Hearts’ by Juice Newton, ‘Modern Love’ by David Bowie and ‘Sail On’ by The Commodores.

2. First and last concert you have attended (be honest too!)

First concert I went to (my Father took me) to a little festival in Florida to see The Monkees (1985-6?). My last concert was seeing the German band To Rococco Rot here in London. It was AWESOME.

3. Guilty pleasure (song/band you shouldn’t like but you do, yes, it’s the embarrassing question)

At the moment, Bobby is saying ‘The Beautiful South‘ to me, but I’m not really embarrassed about any of the bands I love. People make fun of me for liking The Wonderstuff and Pop Will Eat Itself and Jesus Jones, but I tell you what… I went to see them (all 3) last year, by myself, and had a whale of a time!! I love Helen Reddy and I love Skinny Puppy. No pleasure is guilty, just pleasure.

4. Most precious music item you own (collector mode on)
That’s easy. I have a maraca signed by Mickey Dolenz! Bobby played them on his new record! I’ve never let a single soul touch them before. 5. Favorite lyrics (not yours)

“And I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time.” (From ‘Wichita Lineman‘ by Glen Campbell)

6. Musician/s you would like to meet (should be alive, for obvious reasons, but you can choose a dead one too)

I think I’ve met most of my favourites (some good, some BAD). I’d have to say Jeff Tweedy, as he’s such a great songwriter and seems like a good guy to have a coffee with. If we’re talking dead… I’d love to meet Florian Fricke. WHAT a talent. OH GOD… David Bowie. Nearly forgot. I would DIE, but not before snogging his face off.

7. Favorite artwork album (not yours)
Oingo Boingo’s ‘Only a Lad’ EP. It’s one of the Louis Wain cats. I’d love to have it as a tattoo but that’s a lot of scraping.

8. Books or movies? Depending on your answer recommend us one (trick: you can choose both)
Depends on the mood. I just saw ‘Boyhood’, which was great, but I’m reading Sebald’s ‘The Rings of Saturn’ at the moment, which I’m enjoying very much. I’m normally reading books on high strangeness but need to break away from that every once in a while.

9. Release (of yours) you are most proud of
I’d have to say the Robert Hampson remix of ‘The Light Outside‘ by Trembling Blue Stars. It’s a remix of a TBS song called ‘Half-Light’ and an instrumental called ‘Outside’. He deconstructed the actual song and put it back together with Hampson aplomb. Every sound/note he used, he took from our original track, but put his stamp all over it when he put it back together. It’s beautiful. I cried the first time I played it. He told me “it’s like Big Star in space”. I’m so proud to have something out there that he’s touched.

10. What’s does it mean indie for you? (yes, the “serious question”)
I suppose I think of independent labels. Small labels like Touch Records that do everything themselves and have never sold up to a major.

11. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Living in Shetland. Surrounded by sheep and sea and quiet.

Back to our regular posts after the Indietracks experience, and our next guests to answer our questionnaire we have a very special couple. What would have been of this Blog without them? Matthew Bice & Ed Mazzuco, the Shelflife Records‘ bosses, one of our favourite independent labels. Mankind needs them. These Go to 11!
Ed Mazzuco & Matthew Bice, Shelflife Records

1. First record that you bought (be honest)Shelflife Records began in 1995, when Ed Mazzuco, a fan of 80’s English pop and with mythic labels as Factory and Sarah Records as reference, launched the label in a southern California suburb bedroom, in conjunction with a mail order and distribution service. The goal: introducing foreign indie pop groups to the US. Shelflife’s first release arrived in August 1996, the compilation ‘Whirl-Wheels’ which included tracks by Club 8, Boyracer, La Buena Vida, and Ed’s own band The Autocollants. A year later, Ed & the label moved to New York, and although the mail order and distribution service were discontinued, the artist roster continued to grow: Shelflife was a hobby no more. Recognition keep increasing, and the label’s scope expanded, hosting the annual showcase The September Set, and in 2007, with Ed and Matthew Bice relaunching Shelflife blending art with music. To put it simply: one of the best indie labels out there, almost infallible. Here we go!

Ed: I think it was OMD’s ‘Crush’. Or maybe LL Cool J ‘Bigger and Deffer’
Matthew: ‘Me and You and a Dog Named Boo’ by Lobo

2. First and last concert you have attended (be honest too!)

Ed: First concert was New Order in 1988. The last, Toy
Matthew: The first was Chet Atkins. The last, Primavera Sound 2014

Ed: ‘Send The Pain Below’ by Chevelle

3. Guilty pleasure (song/band you shouldn’t like but you do, yes, it’s the embarrassing question)

Ed: Sometimes these words just don’t have to be saidI know how you both feel the heart can rule the headJealousy is an essential part of loveThe hurting here below and the emptiness above– The Wedding Present, ‘My Favourite Dress’
Matthew: I think, yes. I’m doing a fine job Cocteau Twins, ‘Summer Blink’

6. Musician/s you would like to meet (should be alive, for obvious reasons, but you can choose a dead one too)

Hailing from Bradford, Northern England, it all began as the solo project of singer/guitarist Leon Carroll, with the transatlantic help (never met in person) of Brazilian Fabiana Karpinski. They managed to came out with a couple of split CD-R with Young Michelin and Leach Me Lemonade in 2010 and 2011 on Cloudberry andDufflecoat Records. But soon after Fabiana left the project, Leon built a proper band with Louise Phelan (bass) and Adam Theakston (drums) joining forces and putting out their “official” debut 7″ ‘Your Doubting Heart‘ on Shelflife in August 2012. Now the circle is completed with the release of first album ‘Up At Lagrange‘ on August 19th. Like The Pains going shoegaze or Boyracer, this is a burst of in-your-face pop enveloped in fuzzy feedback, irresistible boy/girl vocal melodies wrapped in haze and distortion. Mark the date in your calendars. This is a must-have record.